Condition of poisoned Chechen PM worsens

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, October 01, 2003

Condition of poisoned Chechen PM worsens

The condition of Chechen Prime Minister Anatoly Popov, who has been under medical treatment in a Moscow hospital since Monday, sharply deteriorated on Tuesday morning, Interfax news agency reported.

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The condition of Chechen Prime Minister Anatoly Popov, who has been under medical treatment in a Moscow hospital since Monday, sharply deteriorated on Tuesday morning, Interfax news agency reported.

"He is now demonstrating the same symptoms as in the first hours, when he was taken to the hospital in Grozny on Saturday," said Alexei Vasin, Chechen government press service chief.

Popov, also the temporary acting president for the war-torn republic, felt sick after a lunch on Saturday in Chechnya's second-largest city of Gudermes, where he attended an opening ceremony for a gas pipeline project.

He was hospitalized in Chechnya and flown to Moscow's Central Clinic Hospital early Monday.

Popov has been in a grave but stable condition in Moscow until Tuesday morning, when his temperature rose sharply, an unnamed security officer of Popov said.

On Monday, Popov optimistically said that he hoped to return to Chechnya for work on Tuesday, confirming his condition was normal.

Doctors at the Moscow hospital are providing intensive treatment and trying to find out the reasons for the deterioration of Popov's condition, according to Vasin.

"There is no doubt that he was poisoned. Doctors in Moscow confirm what doctors in Chechnya said earlier," the security officer said.

Some officials and doctors alleged earlier that there was no evidence of the assumption for a deliberate poisoning aimed at theprime minister's life.

It is still not clear what in deed caused the incident, which occurred just a week ahead of the Chechen presidential elections.

Investigation is underway to decide whether the poisoning is deliberate or just accidental.

Popov, 43, was appointed Chechen prime minister about a year ago.

Since the Kremlin-backed Chechen chief Akhmat Kadyrov went on leave in August preparing for the Oct. 5 election, Popov took the post as acting president for the republic in Russia's North Caucasus.

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